Commentary: Saban, Tide living well off Sims' improvisation

Alabama quarterback Blake Sims (6) tries to stay iin bounds during a first down run late against Mississippi State at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Saturday November 15, 2014.(Photo: Mickey Welsh)

TUSCALOOSA – While the Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd lets out a collective roar with a sigh of relief, Nick Saban doesn't have any special outward reaction seeing Blake Sims convert third downs on the run.

"It's no different than when the ball is in the air and somebody is going to catch it," Saban said. "You're sitting there hoping the guy makes a first down or you're hoping the guy catches the ball. You're hoping the guy catches and runs with it to make the conversion."

Maybe he's gotten used to it. Saban certainly has enjoyed the results of it, but this is the first time in eight years at Alabama that he's had a quarterback who can make game-changing plays with his legs.

The irony of it all is Saban, who has a 'my way or the highway' coaching philosophy, has no control of the situation when Sims takes off running. He can harp on him about going through the progressions to find an open receiver, but Saban can't tell Sims how to pick up a first down on the ground.

That's all Sims. If Alabama is going to win a national championship this season, it will need the fifth-year senior to make the type of instinctive plays he made in the last two weeks.

"We want him to do that and he has 99 percent of the time has had great judgment in when to do and when not to do it," Saban said.

Sims is Alabama's third-leading rusher with 280 yards and five touchdowns on only 55 carries. So he's hasn't run much, but when he has, Sims had made it happen much to delight of his teammates.

"I'm just glad he's doing other teams like that," Alabama senior safety Nick Perry of Prattville said. "He does that to us every day in practice in the two-minute drill. He's always with a black jersey so when we're going up trying to tackle him, we have to tag him. He'll go back in the locker room and say, 'you didn't touch me. You wouldn't tackle me in the game.'"

AJ McCarron and Greg McElroy weren't great scramblers, didn't have Sims' athletic ability, but they made the right reads and big throws, managed games and won SEC and national titles. Sims has made the right reads, managed games, and has a broadband connection with Amari Cooper, but must continue to use all his skills to join McCarron and McElroy in that elite championship class at Alabama.

The Crimson Tide (9-1) is ranked first in the latest College Football Playoff poll heading into Saturday' s game against FCS school Western Carolina (7-4) thanks in large part to the improvisation of Sims.

"We know Blake's style and athleticism at his position at quarterback is something that can be of benefit to us," Saban said. "We want him to use good judgment when he makes those decisions. I think so far this year, he's used really judgment when things break down."

What Sims does in the open field can't be found in the playbook. Saban can fill the suggestion box for how to run, but can only watch and hope the first-year starter makes the right decision when his instincts take over. Saban hasn't had this combination in a starting quarterback while at Alabama, but former Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson believes Saban could embrace that even more in the future.

"If you have a quarterback who can do that, that's a weapon now," said Parker Wilson, who started in Saban's first two years at Alabama in 2007 and 2008, Wednesday at the Montgomery Quarterback Club meeting. "Maybe it's something he's not used to, but he can get used to it."

Saban wants Sims to walk that fine line between hitting the open man from the pocket to extending the play to either throw or run. Whenever Saban talks about Sims' running skills, he often reiterates, with conviction, the point that Sims needs to stay within the offense and make the right checks and reads.

"There was a time in the (Mississippi State) game where he got sacked and they didn't cover the back," Saban said. "They were in man-to-man coverage. They busted on the back. He was thinking about scrambling and getting out there, but if he had completed the progressions, he would have thrown the ball to the check down and the guy would have probably run for a touchdown."

Saban gives Sims a steady diet on sticking to the game plan, but is finding comfort in the times Sims veers from the plan and makes a play because it's helping Alabama win. Two weeks ago, Sims scrambled for a first on third-and-4 on the game-tying field goal drive in the Tide's 20-13 overtime win at LSU.

Last week, Sims put his speed, quickness and instincts to use in what Saban called "one of the greatest drives in Alabama history" in the Tide's 25-20 win against then top-ranked Mississippi State. Up 20-13, Sims picked up first downs on 3rd-and-8 with a 10-yard run and 3rd-and-10 with an 11-yard run.

"It's a great player making plays," Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. "We had guys in positions to make plays. He did a great job on the one of making someone miss and getting to the first down marker. On the other, he kind of outran everybody to the corner. He's a great player and when the game is on the line, he's made some special things happen."

Sims converted three third downs on the 15-play drive that put Alabama up 25-13 with eight minutes and nine seconds left in the game.

"Just putting it out of the field," Sims said after the game Saturday. "Leave no doubts. No wishing I could have did this or could have done that."

Whenever your quarterback has that mentality and displays some of it by running the ball, there's a chance he could get injured. No coach wants their quarterback going down trying to run when that's not his primary job, but the Tide needs Sims to improvise from time to time to help its offense produce.

Alabama is ranked 35th nationally in rushing offense at 197.9 yards a game. In its three national championship seasons under Saban, Alabama finished 12th in rushing in 2009 and 16th in 2011 and 2012.

T.J. Yeldon has been hurt, Derrick Henry has been inconsistent and Kenyan Drake is out with a season-ending leg injury. The offensive line isn't one of Saban's best and Cooper is Alabama's only major receiving threat, but Sims helps make up for the offense's deficiencies because he's a playmaker.

"He adds a whole other dynamic to their offense," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "You have to account for the quarterback in all your run schemes now. I think anytime you can add the element of a running quarterback, it makes it that much more difficult to defend."

Jones has a dual-threat quarterback in sophomore Joshua Dobbs who has a greater upside than Sims. A big difference right now between the two is Sims is older and wiser.

Dobbs can do it all, but he takes his share of punishment on some runs. Sims rarely takes a big hit because he knows how to make people miss and get out of bounds.

Saban is counting on Sims to continue to avoid collisions, stay focused and make the correct play, but knows every now and then he has to let Sims be Sims during crunch time and live with results. So far, the results have helped put Alabama in the driver's seat to earn one of the four playoffs spots.

Saban is all good with that.

"Saban likes guys who get it done," Parker Wilson said. "Blake has gotten it done."